PEORIA, Ill. – The North Dakota State men's cross country team turned in a strong performance at the NCAA Midwest Regional contested on Friday afternoon in Peoria.
 
Senior Jake Arason took 38th place overall in his Bison finale, clocking a personal-best 30:23.0 for the 10k at Newman Golf Course. He becomes NDSU's highest men's finisher ever at the Division I cross country regional meet, personally improving by 66 places over his previous best regional finish.
 
The Bison men placed 16th out of 32 teams in the meet – their best team performance since 2014, and tied for the third-best in the school's Division I era.
 
Behind Arason, fellow seniors Hunter Klimek (30:47.3) and Tyson Mahar (31:17.6) placed 62nd and 104th, respectively. Will Gerber came in 120th with a time of 31:38.3, and Ethan Moe completed the team scoring in 128th with a time of 31:52.0.
 
In addition to their best team placing in 10 years, the Bison men climbed six spots from last season's 22nd-place finish.
 
Oklahoma State captured the men's team title, with Iowa State claiming the second automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships.